On New Year's Day in 1988, which was also her 19th birthday, Patricia England, a young woman from Yonkers, New York, looked forward to celebrating. She borrowed a pair of shoes from a friend and went out to visit another friend that evening. But Patricia, a white female who was in the early stages of pregnancy, never returned home. Her disappearance marked the beginning of a grim mystery that would take more than a decade to unravel, revealing a thread of violence that had been quietly
terrorizing the suburbs of Westchester County.
More than a month passed before any trace of Patricia was found. On February 6, 1988, her frozen and partially decomposed body was discovered in a wooded area off Sprain Road in the town of Greenburgh, near the Yonkers border. Investigators determined that she had been sexually assaulted and killed around the time she vanished. The cause of death was believed to be asphyxiation, and it was clear she had been killed elsewhere before her body was moved to the location where it was found. The tragic discovery was made not by police, but by a woman who had been led to the area by a psychic while searching for her own missing husband.
The initial investigation into Patricia’s murder focused on those closest to her, including a former boyfriend. However, DNA evidence collected from the scene ultimately cleared him. Unbeknownst to detectives at the time, the boyfriend had once worked at an auto repair shop in Yonkers alongside a man named Patrick Baxter, and the two had been friends. Through this connection, Baxter knew Patricia. As the years went by, Patricia's case grew cold, leaving her family without answers and her killer at large.
Her murder was one of three brutal slayings of young women in Westchester County between 1987 and 1990 that initially seemed unrelated. The victims were of different ages and races and were killed in different towns. The first victim was 14-year-old Michelle Walker in 1987, and the last was 25-year-old Lisa Gibbens in 1990. The cases remained unsolved for years, a lingering source of fear and frustration for the community and law enforcement.
The break in the cold cases came in the late 1990s and early 2000s with advancements in DNA technology. Investigators reviewing old files noticed that Patrick Baxter's name appeared in connection with all three murders. At the time, Baxter was already incarcerated for auto theft. After a legal battle, authorities obtained a blood sample from him. The DNA profile developed from his blood was a perfect match to the evidence found at the scenes of all three homicides, definitively linking him to the deaths of Patricia England, Michelle Walker, and Lisa Gibbens.
Patrick Baxter, who became known as The Westchester County Serial Killer, was charged with the murders. His methods varied, including asphyxiation and shooting. In 2002, he stood trial for the three killings. The DNA evidence formed the cornerstone of the prosecution's case. On May 9, 2002, a jury found Baxter guilty on 12 counts of murder in the second degree. He was subsequently sentenced to 75 years to life in prison, ensuring he would spend the rest of his life behind bars. During his sentencing, Baxter offered condolences to the families of his victims but maintained his own innocence. The conviction was later upheld on appeal in 2005.
